How Coaching can Help

The real benefit of seeking support in parent care is in building your capacity to self-manage. This might be in:

• Establishing reasonable boundaries —and handling situations when they fail
• Developing ability to clearly communicate with parents and siblings
• Recognizing and managing stressful emotions including possible guilt, anger, depression, or grief
• Truly embracing personal wellness and self-care
• Anticipating and managing care and relationship transitions
• Developing capacity to work through difficult decision making

Learning Where to Turn

Taking on responsibility for your parent’s affairs is never simple or easy. It is usually complex and difficult —and constantly presenting new challenges. Managing your life while engaging with your parent’s aging can bring many issues, from the senior’s well-being, to taking care of your needs, to how the family works together — all calling to be addressed with urgency. Learning where to turn for information and resources, how to build effective arrangements, and stay sane while doing it can be quite difficult.

All of this work is compounded by the fact that it is your parent you are attempting to support. And history can affect how well you work and how wel you are received. No matter how you look at it —or how you have come to it— participating in shepherding your parent through the later stages of their life can be a significant personal endeavor.  If you invest in yourself along the way it can be a very worthwhile endeavor. A Parent Care Coach can provide informed guidance to help you through it and you may find there less to avoid and more to embrace as you go forward.

Mindfulness really does help here

Without attention to one’s own experience and continued affirmation of best intentions, it is easy for family and caregivers to get lost in the many layers of parent care and the emerging responsibilities and decisions that arise. This journey demands mindfulness and continued striving for greater awareness. It is indeed most difficult when you are challenged by complexity, awkward family relationships, and emotionally charged encounters while you continue to strive to meld responsibility and compassion for your parent.